WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch⏰ Resets Monday!
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Several days later, in the Hokage's office.
"Hey, old man." Tsunade sat right on top of Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk, sprawling without a care. "Just let Chiba handle the trial medical reform project. It's simple."
"Hah…"
The racket was giving Hiruzen a headache. He set down the document he was holding, his voice laced with a helpless sigh.
"Tsunade, I appreciate the boy's talents too. But by the standards of a combat ninja, he's still just a genin. It's… not quite appropriate."
"What's inappropriate about it?" Tsunade snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Senior Maruboshi Kosuke was only ever a genin, too."
"Pfft! Cough, cough, cough…"
Hiruzen had just taken a sip of tea. Tsunade's words sent it straight down the wrong pipe, choking him.
Maruboshi Kosuke? The man even Lord Second acknowledged!
"That man would have been an exceptional jonin long ago if he hadn't taken on that life as a form of penance," Hiruzen managed once he caught his breath, shaking his head. "Chiba can't be compared to him. Alright, Tsunade, I'll consider your suggestion. But I believe the boy still needs more… seasoning."
"Putting him in such a pivotal position so abruptly, a boy with no roots or backing… it would only draw unnecessary trouble to him," Hiruzen reasoned.
"Tch. I'm done listening to your excuses, you old fart!"
Tsunade hopped off the desk. With a final dismissive wave, she pushed the door open and swaggered out.
"An insolent disciple! Absolutely insolent!"
Hiruzen clutched his chest where his liver probably ached. He snatched his pipe from the desk, took two furious puffs, then yanked a crystal ball from a drawer. He needed to decompress. Badly.
So, Hiruzen is being swayed. Or perhaps, he just can't say no to Tsunade…
Homura Mitokado had sat quietly through the entire exchange. He narrowed his eyes slightly.
He knew Hiruzen had been considering the medical-nin reform trial. The position of supervisor just hadn't been decided yet. With Tsunade making this fuss, given Hiruzen's tendency to indulge her, that commoner boy named Chiba would likely get the nod…
"Well, I shall take my leave, Hiruzen."
Seeing the crystal ball come out, Homura tactfully stood, offered his farewell, and closed the office door firmly behind him.
Once outside, Homura adjusted his glasses. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
His daughter was a medical-nin. This supervisor position… it would make a perfect stepping stone for her future entry into the village's higher echelons.
…
The Mitokado estate.
"…It is an excellent opportunity. However, the Third already has a provisional candidate in mind. As one of the elders, it would be improper for me to directly recommend you."
Homura Mitokado sat in the head seat, watching his excited daughter with a practiced, bureaucratic air. "However, should that commoner boy, Chiba, voluntarily withdraw… I might be able to arrange something with Hiruzen on your behalf."
His daughter, Mitokado Tsuki, nodded vigorously, her face lit up with delight. "I understand, Father!"
In other words, all she needed to do was apply a little… persuasion. Make that commoner want to give it up. Then the position would be hers.
"Good." Seeing her comprehension, Homura added a warning. "Remember to be generous with the compensation. Handle this cleanly. Do not disgrace the Mitokado name."
"Yes, Father!"
…
"Ugh. Back to the front lines. What a pain."
Chiba lay on his small bed, sighing inwardly.
He had the looks. He had the medical skills. There was no dodging a deployment against Iwagakure.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Just then, a knocking sound came from his door. Chiba rolled off the bed and opened it.
"…You are?"
A woman with brown hair stood outside. Seeing Chiba, she lifted her chin slightly, a haughty look on her face.
"I am Mitokado Tsuki. Leader of the Seventh Medical Unit. Which makes me your superior."
Mitokado clan?
Chiba was confused. This woman seemed a bit off. What did she want?
"I'm here to propose a mutually beneficial transaction."
Without waiting for an invitation, Tsuki strode past Chiba into his home. Her eyes swept the room. A casual comment followed.
"Your home is rather… small."
Chiba's expression cooled.
It was small. Maybe twenty or thirty square meters. But this place was the only thing left to him by this body's parents after their sacrifice.
"State your business," Chiba said, patience gone.
These commoners really have no manners…
Tsuki kept the thought to herself, plastering on a proper smile. "It's simple. I want you to voluntarily withdraw your candidacy for a certain position. In exchange, I can fulfill some of your… needs."
Fulfill my needs?
Chiba's eyes traveled up and down Mitokado Tsuki's form. A look of pure distaste settled on his face.
Her face was passable. But with that utterly unremarkable figure of hers, how exactly did she plan to 'fulfill his needs'? Talk him to death?
"Hmph!"
Tsuki shifted uncomfortably under his weird stare. "Fine. I'll offer you two million ryo. How's that?"
Chiba shook his head. Tsuki's delicate eyebrows furrowed in displeasure. "Why? Leaving aside whether the position would even go to you, my offer is more than generous!"
"It is generous," Chiba agreed, unruffled. "But if a person of your standing is willing to pay a fortune for it… and you're asking me to give it up… how is that 'mutually beneficial'?"
"You…!" Tsuki was momentarily speechless.
Chiba just smiled. People like Mitokado Tsuki, who threw their weight around because of their connections, were a dime a dozen in his past life. Positions everyone else had to test and compete for, they could waltz into with a phone call. Looks like the shinobi world was even worse.
First Hokage: We mustn't rely on connections to become Hokage!
Second: Yes, brother!
Third: Yes, sensei.
Fourth: Yes, grand-sensei.
Fifth: Yes, grandpa…
Seeing Chiba's stubbornness, Tsuki's voice turned icy. "Think carefully, Chiba. You would be refusing the Mitokado clan."
"Heh. So the Mitokado clan can just bully people?" Chiba scoffed. He'd swallowed his pride enough in his last life. Now, with his golden finger? No way he was letting himself get pushed around.
"Let me tell you something," he leaned in, his voice dropping to a dramatic whisper. "Even if someone from the Sarutobi clan came… they'd. Have. To. Pay. Up!"
"(òwó?)! Nani?!"
Tsuki had already mentally written off the negotiation. Chiba's sudden one-eighty nearly gave her whiplash.
"This position is just a little stepping stone for your great clan. But for a commoner like me? It's a chance to change my destiny!" Chiba looked at the bewildered Tsuki, his expression one of profound anguish. "I'll name a price. Ten million ryo. Non-negotiable."
"Impossible!" Tsuki snapped. "An A-rank mission payout is only a few hundred thousand at most. Five million. That's my final offer."
"Deal." Chiba's smile was back, wide and cheerful.
The amount didn't really matter. He had zero intention of keeping his promise anyway. Free money was free money.
If he weren't still a nobody who couldn't afford to openly defy a major clan, he'd have liked to string this arrogant Mitokado Tsuki up and give her a proper thrashing right then and there.
Sigh. Too many people in this world end up dead by 'friendly fire' under mysterious circumstances. Until I'm stronger… I'll have to play along for now.
"Very well. Five million ryo it is." Tsuki shot Chiba a sidelong glance, her arrogance returning full force. "I advise you not to entertain any… foolish ideas. In Konoha, no one dares make a fool of the Mitokado clan."
"Even the Senju and the Uchiha… they are relics of the past," she added, her tone deliberate.
Wow. Why don't you march into the Uchiha compound right now and shout 'The Uchiha are relics of the past!' three times? Let's see if those red-eyed maniacs don't come charging out with their swords.
They might even wipe your whole clan out. That's something they would absolutely do.
Keeping the internal sarcasm to himself, Chiba grinned. "Naturally. I take the money, I do the job. I know the rules."
He didn't take Tsuki's threat seriously. Once he healed another hundred or so high-quality patients… he'd make the entire Konoha Council of Elders a 'relic of the past'.
…
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Chiba had just seen Mitokado Tsuki out. He hadn't even made it back to his bed before the knocking started again.
"That was fast?"
Thinking it was the money delivery, Chiba eagerly yanked the door open, a brilliant, welcoming smile on his face.
"Oh? You're that happy to see me, kid?"
The blonde woman at the door seemed to misunderstand. A stunning, radiant smile bloomed instantly on her pretty face.
Tsun… Tsunade-sama?! Chiba's brain short-circuited. His heart started hammering against his ribs.
"Mm. Seeing you has put me in a pretty good mood too." Tsunade reached out and patted the frozen Chiba on the shoulder, her eyes crinkling with amusement.
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